Xingping County, Chengdong Daying.

Hong Chengchou held a horsewhip in his hand, and slowly walked into the military tent surrounded by a group of guards.

He had just finished inspecting the defensive line around the barracks, and had gone to the wounded barracks to comfort the sergeants.

Du Si Tian Yinglong was killed in battle, almost all the family members under his command were killed in battle, and the combat strength of his battalion was greatly damaged, and now most of the only people left in the battalion are just ordinary soldiers.

The successive defeats have made the morale of the soldiers under the command of He Renlong and Zhang Quanchang always sluggish.

Even after repelling the army led by Gao Yingxiang a few days ago, the morale of the army still hasn't recovered much.

Fortunately, Gao Yingxiang's desire to go east was not too strong, and it was just a tentative attack.

Relying on the pacesetter battalion under his hands and He Renlong's desperate efforts, Gao Yingxiang temporarily retreated.

Hong Chengchou had already received news from Pizhou and Sanshui before, and the thieves from Pingliang Mansion and Qingyang Mansion came to the Guanzhong area one after another.

Hong Chengchou understood why Gao Yingxiang divided his troops, and also understood why Gao Yingxiang only tentatively attacked at this time and retreated.

Gao Yingxiang did not let him attack Guanzhong and enter Xi'an.

The purpose of dividing troops and plundering is to continue to expand the scale, replenish the number of people, and increase the combat power.

Gao Yingxiang marched in three ways, that is, to envelop the hungry people and displaced people of the three prefectures to enter Guanzhong and capture Xi'an.

The reason why he left after a tentative period was just to find out how many soldiers were available under his command, and to wait for the two lines of troops and horses in the direction of Pingliang Mansion and Qingyang Mansion to come together.

"Zhang Waijia ......"

Hong Chengchou's eyes flashed with a fierce light, and he clenched the horsewhip in his hand, resisting the urge to throw it on the ground.

Ai Wannian, Liu Chenggong and others were all good generals in the army, and they all suffered defeats, and even Cao Wenzhao suffered a lot of losses, and almost fell into the hands of Hutou Town and Li Zicheng and Hui Dengxiang.

The thief army in Qingyang Mansion in the north was the least numerous, and at the same time the most wrong.

Therefore, he repeatedly reminded Zhang Waijia not to underestimate the enemy, and to guard Sanshui City.

After he received the news of Cao Wenzhao's victory from Pizhou, he was not happy for a few days before he received the news of the fall of Sanshui City.

These soldiers and horses from Liaozhen can indeed fight, but the generals who lead the troops are barely listening, and they are all arrogant, thinking that the current rogues are just a group of local chickens and dogs.

That is, You Shiwei and Cao Wenzhao know how to advance and retreat, and obey his orders.

Hong Chengchou pressed his hand on his temple, and his head jumped suddenly, making him feel pain.

Since entering Tongguan, he has rarely heard good news.

Fengxiang Mansion has fallen in many places, and urgent documents are like snowflakes all over his desk.

The prefect of Fengxiang Mansion has written a letter to impeach him for letting the rogues run rampant and fleeing without a fight.

It's a mess inside and out, waiting for him to deal with it.

There are so many things to do, and he hasn't slept soundly for a day these days.

Hong Chengchou raised his head, opened his bloodshot eyes, and asked.

"What's the situation on Liu Chenggong's side now?"

In the battle of Xiangle in Ningzhou, the Ming army was ambushed, and Ai Wannian and Liu Guozhen died in battle.

Liu Chenggong and Wang Ximing led the remnants out of the encirclement, but they were also seriously injured.

The two have been recuperating from their injuries so far, and Liu Chenggong is almost good, but Wang Ximing's thigh and arm were injured, although the injury healed, but he can no longer go to the battlefield.

Liu Chenggong's original injuries still need to be recuperated for a while, but the soldiers under Tian Yinglong's command have to take care of it.

Now Liu Chenggong is still in charge of the army under the command of Du Sitian Yinglong as he is still a deputy general.

Hearing Hong Chengchou's question, Sun Shoufa stood up and reported.

"The affairs of the battalion have been properly arranged, and Vice General Liu has replaced several generals and colonels, and the battalion has been stabilized."

"It's just that the morale of the army is still quite low, and I'm afraid it will take about half a month to recover."

Hong Chengchou frowned slightly, the time of about half a month was really too long.

Sun Shoufa saw Hong Chengchou's unhappy face, he and Liu Chenggong were on good terms, and he could only say it head-on.

"Tian Dusi was martyred, there were many casualties in the battalion, and now the pension has not been paid, and even the ...... last month"

Hong Chengchou's face stiffened slightly, and he couldn't say what he was going to say anymore.

Military salaries and military salaries must be paid in all localities and battalions.

Although the emperor issued more than one million taels of gold to Beijing, provinces, and others as military salaries, many of these million taels of silver had already been deducted before they left Beijing, and there was not much left when they were sent to Shaanxi, Huguang, and Henan.

"There is no need to worry about the pension and military salary, tomorrow I will arrange for someone to go and distribute it, and tell Liu Chenggong to rectify military affairs as soon as possible, now the situation is becoming more and more urgent, and there is no room for half a point of neglect."

"Thank you for the casualties, and when the army hears the news, the morale of the army will be greatly boosted!"

Sun Shoufa knelt on the ground and said in a sincere tone.

Hong Chengchou sighed in his heart, showing a hint of fatigue, but he soon regained his composure again.

In May, Lu Xiangsheng succeeded Tang Hui as the right deputy capital Yushi and the governor of Huguang, and now he is stationed in Xiangfan.

The rogue is becoming more and more intense, and the people are boiling endlessly.

Now the popular uprising has spread to Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Huguang, Nanzhili, Sichuan, Shandong and other provinces, and he alone is no longer able to do away with his energy to govern.

There have been rumors from above, and it seems that there is an intention to set up an envoy of the "premiers of the five provinces", which will be concurrently served by Lu Xiangsheng, who will be in charge of the military affairs of the five provinces of Nanzhili, Henan, Shandong, Sichuan, and Huguang.

"By the way, who did Cao Wenzhao send to take over the Liao soldiers under Zhang Waijia?"

Hong Chengchou stood up, and while asking, he stood up and asked the left and right to take off the armor he was wearing.

The military of this era has a strong regional character.

Zhang Waijia led the Liao soldiers, the Changping soldiers led by Zuo Liangyu, He Renlong, and the Shaanxi soldiers led by Zhang Quanchang.

No matter who was in charge of the three of them, it would be difficult to govern these nine hundred Liao soldiers, and Hong Chengchou would naturally not assign them to any of the three of them.

The only candidate can only be Cao Wenzhao.

Although Hong Chengchou had a holiday with Cao Wenzhao before, this time Cao Wenzhao's attitude was extremely respectful, and he also let go of the mustard, and the two of them were already in the cold.

This time, Cao Wenzhao restrained these Liao soldiers, and it also meant compensating for taking away their military exploits before.

"Is it Cao Bianjiao, or Cao Dingjiao?"

Cao Wenzhao was dismissed from his post and confiscated because of the defeat of Datong, but he was transferred again to quell the rebellion before he left office.

Now there are not many people under Cao Wenzhao's command who can be used, and there are only Cao Bianjiao, Cao Dingjiao's two nephews and a few people, and he remembers the name.

There are only two people who have the ability to lead a battalion, Cao Bianjiao and Cao Dingjiao, so Hong Chengchou directly asked the name.

"What's wrong?"

Hong Chengchou waited for a while, but still didn't hear Sun Shoufa's answer.

He turned his head to look at Sun Shoufa, but saw that Sun Shoufa's face was a little strange.

Hong Chengchou raised his eyebrows, shook the python robe he was wearing, and sat back on the chair.

"Could it be that in addition to his two nephews, there is a third person under his command who can manage those Liao soldiers?"